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| The War for Latinos | |
Jessica Sanchez poses an urgent threat to the US military. For a Pentagon stretched by stagnating enlistments and an Administration bent on waging a "global war on terror," the question of whether this four-foot-eleven Mexican-born legal resident and others like her will decide to join the military has enormous geopolitical implications. The Pentagon is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to find out whatever it can about Sanchez and other young Latinos: what they wear, where they hang out, what kinds of groups they form, what they read, what they watch on TV, their grades, their dreams. Members of the military's numerous and well-funded recruiting commands use
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(HVC Editor’s note: This article first appeared on HispanicVista.com on November 8, 2004. Since HVC Publisher, Sal Osio, first introduced the ideas mentioned in his article, others in national newspapers have picked up on them and began writing on the same subject.) The U.S. Embassy in Mexico estimates that there are some 600,000 American expatriates residing in Mexico. The Democratic and Republican Party representatives in Mexico both estimate over 1 million U.S. citizens qualified to vote in Mexico. The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana officially estimates that there are over 170,000 American expatriates living in Baja California. These estimates are mere guesses since Mexico does not police undocumented Americans living in Mexico, only a fraction of whom have residential visas. Others cross the border as tourists and in the case of Baja California without any documentation at all. |
| Katrina exposed a truth – there are enough Americans to take jobs illegal immigrants have. | Contreras is oblivious to race-based inequities. |
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The September 8, 2005 article by Raoul Lowery Contreras (Hispanics: torpedoed by the usual suspects* http://www.hispanicvista.com/HVC/Columnist/rcontreras/090805contreras.htm) is offensive on a number of levels. In his article Mr. Lowery Contreras suggests that Latino representation in the military in proportion to their representative share of the overall population will be “productive to national acceptance of all Hispanics.” It appears that Mr. Lowery Contreras is oblivious to the historical race-based inequities in this country and to the fact that while Latinos have historically volunteered for armed service, their dedication and in many cases their very death, has not served to improve the unfair treatment our community receives. |
| The People of New Orleans Are Not Refugees | Natural Selection in a Nutshell and an application: the classroom fight for our children’s future |
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By Elsa Salazar Cade In case you forgot or never was taught it, here is natural selection simplified. No, Mr. President, the jury is not still out on this! 1. We are not all born equal. We have lots of different genes so.... some of us are tall, short, light skinned, dark skinned.- Any argument here? Get your glasses checked or maybe do some traveling. 2. This is only so much stuff in the world: space, shelter, water, food, love etc.- Any argument here? The planet is a finite place. The universe is very big, but there is only one planet we live on right now and not all the space can be lived in. |
| Who or What is LULAC? | |
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By Carlos L’Dera I was heavily involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. Back in those days, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who was unfamiliar with the NAACP. The NAACP was prominent and active. Although its leadership recognized the importance of relationships with officials, they never lost sight of their mission and were always cognizant of their priorities. But who ever heard of LULAC in the 1960’s? Now let’s fast forward to the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Just about everyone is still aware of whom the NAACP is and what the organization stands for, even though their basic goal was met by the passage of the 1964 civil rights act. Conversely, ask someone who, or what, LULAC is and more often than not you will get a blank stare at best. |
| Sometimes, the Enemy is Us | Carlos Slim and Mexican Poverty |
Blood will boil when readers read this piece. It so clearly defines the hard-core racists among us. Predictably, there will be a guilt-ridden White defense that not all Whites are racist. Most who are ultra-vocal about Mexicans and illegal aliens are the exact same people who subscribe to the following ugly demonstration. Substitute the word Mexican for Negro to prove my point. From American Dissident Voices Broadcast of September 10, 2005… “I'm Shaun Walker…200,000 displaced Negroes have relocated to Houston, Texas. Can you imagine having 200,000 Negroes moving into your city in one week?...” |
As we all know, poverty sucks. Even Latin America's richest man, Carlos Slim, knows that. He said as much last Wednesday, when he remonstrated with the federal government for being satisfied with achieving economic stability instead of doing more for Mexicans. “Stability is just a tool and not a goal,” he said. “If there's no growth, then that is not good macroeconomics.” He upbraided the government for squandering its petroleum windfall instead of providing long-term benefits for the owners of Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) — Mexico's citizens. After more than 65 years of owning this wonderful resource, they're still waiting for benefits like better health and education systems and more jobs.
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| He said "wetback", HCCW said that's o-kay | Blind Human Rights Activist Suffers Brutal Act of Repudiation in Cuba |
On October 23, 2004, Clear Channel radio talk show, Mark Belling made the following statement, “You watch the voter turnout on the near South side, heavily Hispanic, and compare it to the voter turnout in other elections, and you’re going to see that every wetback and other non-citizen out there voting”. After using this insidious term to describe Milwaukee's Latino community, Belling joked and mocked his use of the term giving numerous sarcastic apologies. He polled his listening audience on whether he should have used the word or not. After polling his audience he joked by telling them that they were “all wet”. |
Statement from: Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva On Thursday, September 1, 2005, from 8:00 AM until 4:30
PM, I was the victim of an “act of repudiation” perpetrated by military and
paramilitary mobs of the communist government while I was carrying out a
meeting of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights at my home in the city of
Ciego de Avila. |
| Teenagers “Cutting” not only school | A series of chronicles: In search of a dream |
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| Puertorriqueños: Somos Un Solo Pueblo | A Lifeline to Renewal: The Demographic Impact of Immigration at State and Local Levels |
By Manuel Hernandez/HispanicVista.comLa victoria de Fernando Ferrer a la candidatura de la alcaldía nuyorquina ha levantado un nuevo debate en la Isla. Unos han aprovechado la histórica elección para festejar y otros para como es su costumbre acusar y lanzar ataques politicos de un lado y de otro. Lo cierto es que los Latinos han sobrepasado a los Afro-Americanos como la minoría mas grande en los Estados Unidos. De acuerdo al Censo 2000, hay 35.8 millones de Hispanos residentes en los Estados Unidos Continentales. De esa cantidad, hay un 10% de origen puertorriqueño residente en los Estados Unidos. La población de la Isla alcanza los 3.8 millones. Mientras que la población Isleña aumenta paulatinamente, los números de los Boricuas en los Estados Unidos aumenta a pasos agigantados. De continuar con ese crecimiento, podríamos tener unos números similares entre ambas poblaciónes boricuas para el 2010. Ambas poblaciones tienen intereses en comun y sangre boricua que corre por sus venas pero por circunstancias históricas hemos estado alejados unos de otros a través del ultimo siglo. |
By Rob Paral*
Many Americans are concerned about the social and economic impacts of immigration. Large numbers of immigrants enter the United States each year, and observers wonder how these persons affect the availability of jobs, the cost of government services, and whether their region or neighborhood is becoming overcrowded. Immigration debates at the national level are often about whether federal policies on admissions are adequate and appropriate. But when people talk about immigration at the state and local level they often are concerned about the impact of immigration on local economies and governments. Indeed, while national studies generally find that immigrants pay more in federal taxes than they use in federally funded services, the opposite can be true at the local level, where immigrants may be net users of services because they tend to have children in relatively costly K-12 schools.
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| BUSINESS U.S. Hispanics Entertain At Home. | BUSINESS U.S. Data Reveal Loan Rate Disparity |
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A recent study conducted by ICR reports that when
compared to the general population, U.S. Hispanics are more likely to
purchase media and entertainment products for the home. This finding
includes DVR's, cable products, video game systems, video games, movies and
music. |
WASHINGTON — Sep 14, 2005 - African Americans and
Hispanics are far more likely to receive high-cost home loans than whites —
and although much of the disparity can be tied to economic factors, the
reason cannot be fully explained by existing data, according to a government
analysis released Tuesday. |
| BUSINESS L.A. County jobless rate below 5% | BUSINESS Advertising Market Grows 4.5% - US Hispanic Down. |
Los Angeles County's jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.7 percent in August - the rate's first dip below 5 percent in more than 4 years - as the region's economic engine continued to chug along despite higher energy costs. Fueled by job gains related to the still-hot construction industry and growing strength in aerospace and tourism, the county economy created 21,000 jobs between July and August - and 145,000 new jobs in the past year - the California Employment Development Department reported Friday. |
September 12, 2005 Total advertising expenditures for the first half of
2005 increased 4.5 percent, compared to the same period in 2004, to $70.5
billion, according to data released today by TNS Media Intelligence (TNS
MI). The 4.5 percent first half growth follows a first quarter increase of
4.4 percent, indicating that the advertising market is maintaining spending.
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| BUSINESS New Report Spotlights Cross-Border Energy Project | BUSINESS International Trade and Port Activities Strengthen in 2004 |
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Environment/Commerce News |
San Diego, CA - September 10, 2005 -The Economic Research Bureau of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce released their 2005 Port & International Trade issue of the San Diego Economic Bulletin. The Port of San Diego continues to generate over $4 billion for the region's economy each year, while employing over 20,000 people. The value of international trade passing through the San Diego Customs District posted a dramatic 10.9 percent rise in 2004, up $3.9 billion from 2003 levels. However San Diego remains a net importer of goods. The total value of goods exported and imported through the San Diego Customs District grew by 10.9 percent in 2004 almost reaching $40 billion. The value of goods exported through the San Diego Customs District reached $14.0 billion in 2004, a rise of 10.4 percent over 2003 levels.
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| BUSINESS Japan, Mexico fail to agree on reducing chicken import tariffs | BUSINESS Mexico Builds Trade Ties With China |
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(Kyodo) Sep. 15, 2005 - Japan and Mexico failed to agree on a cut in Japanese tariffs on chicken imports from Mexico at their talks in Paris that ended Wednesday, Japanese officials said Thursday. The two countries negotiated specific chicken tariff levels under the bilateral free trade agreement which went into effect last April. The FTA requires the tariffs to be cut by at least 10 percent. Mexico called for a substantial tariff cut above that minimum but Japan wanted to limit the scale of the reduction. |
MEXICO CITY, Sept. 12 - President Hu Jintao of China wooed Mexican leaders on Monday during a state visit, trying to smooth out the often prickly relationship between the two countries as part of a larger campaign to expand China's influence in Latin America. In the afternoon, Mr. Hu and President Vicente Fox signed several minor agreements with great fanfare, among them one providing mutual tax limits on companies doing business in both countries and another that will allow Mexico to export grapes to China in return for importing Chinese pears. |
| BUSINESS Mexican beer heads for Canada – legally. | BUSINESS e-Mexico, a program to deliver high-speed digital technology to Mexico |
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GUELPH, Ont. (CP) - Sep 16, 2005 - Sleeman Breweries Ltd. is joining forces with Mexican beer maker Femsa Cerveza to sell, market and distribute the firm's Sol and Dos Equis brands in Canada. Terms of the collaboration, which begins Jan. 1, were not released. "This is a great opportunity and we look forward to working with this world-renowned and respected global brewer," Sleeman CEO John Sleeman said in a statement. "This is another example of partnering with unique brands that will work to strengthen our overall portfolio." |
PanAmSat has signed an agreement with Mexico's Department of Transportation and Communications to expand e-Mexico, a program to deliver high-speed digital technology and Internet service to the entire Mexican population. In two years, PanAmSat de Mexico, an alliance between PanAmSat and Grupo Pegaso, has delivered the space segment for the first phase of the program to connect 3,200 sites serving 2,445 municipalities through the Galaxy 3C site. |
| BUSINESS Mexico, U.S. in Talks on Cement Tax | BUSINESS Maquiladora Supplies the Solar Revolution |
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By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer MEXICO CITY — Sep 14, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina may help
end a 15-year trade dispute between the U.S. and Mexico over cement, as the
massive rebuilding effort in the Gulf Coast could put pressure on U.S.
officials to allow more imports into a market beset with shortages and high
prices. |
Tijuana News
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Sometimes it seems that we are so far apart - as if African-Americans and white Americans live next to one another in starkly different worlds. Many white Americans sincerely believe that skin color no longer matters. They have shut their eyes to the facts that: this nation's churches remain heavily segregated, research shows children perform better in school when they are taught by members of their own race, and in the singles ads, many whites still seek white partners. |
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Both the
size of the United States' unauthorized population and the inability of the
immigration system to adequately handle influxes have returned comprehensive
immigration reform to the national debate. Several legislative proposals are
pending before the 109th Congress. |
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SAN
FRANCISCO --Sep 15, 2005 - When the results for this year's California High
School Exit Exam came out, an online Chinese language newspaper assured its
new immigrant readers that as long as their child was doing okay in English
class, they would not have any problem passing the Exit Exam. But some
students who are learning English tell a different story. |
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Brazil is
now experiencing its latest political scandal in a non-stop history of
woeful instances of corruption, which has chilled its spread of democracy.
This scandal underscores current impediments preventing the achievement of
public rectitude in the Americas—corruption, lack of transparency, scant
accountability and the weak application of the rule of law. However, this
latest salvo of scandals signals that corruption has reached unprecedented
proportions in Latin America’s largest nation. The shame now lashing the
Brazilian system reflects current political misfirings such as a lack of
adequate anti-corruption safeguards as well as the application of few
significant political reforms. On that note, why isn’t Washington paying
closer attention to the ongoing scandal in Brazil, considering that it
captures the essence of a fundamental impediment to democratic consolidation
in the region? |
On August 25, a shocked Peruvian Congress watched Congressman Ronnie Jurado Adriazola from Tacna - widely known as Peru’s most nationalistic region - place a Chilean flag on the table of recently appointed Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard while he accused him of being “pro-Chilean.” The degree of shock in the Peruvian legislative chamber reached new heights when the recently appointed Minister of Defense, Division General (ret.) Marciano Rengifo Ruiz, promptly grabbed the flag from the table and threw it on the ground. This event was reported in the Peruvian, Bolivian and Chilean media, with Chilean foreign affairs minister Ignacio Walker being quick to declare in a written statement that his government considered this event as an insulting act. Meanwhile Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo called his Chilean counterpart, Ricardo Lagos, on the telephone and apologized for what had happened. |
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LULAC Education Commission condemns mayor, exonerates superintendent The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Education Commission (District 8-CA) has issued a condemnation of the actions of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. |
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Pastoral Care of
Immigrants a Priority in Mexico and U.S., Says Pope |
WASHINGTON — Sept. 13, 2005 - The vivid images of poor residents, most of them African American, stranded across New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have generated more discussion in the nation's capital about poverty than any event in years. |
NEW ORLEANS — Sept. 13, 2005 - After years of warnings, community leaders this summer prepared a video guide to hurricane evacuations with a stark message: Many of this city's poor, including 134,000 without cars, could be left behind in a killer storm. |
HOUSTON - Sep 13, 2005 - For several weeks now, consulates and relief organizations have been stumped. They don't know where, exactly, the thousands of Honduran and Mexican people living in New Orleans went before and after the hurricane. "It's very hard for us to say where people are," says Alexandra Jost, with the National Council of La Raza. "Part of the difficulty for this community is that a lot of the traditional services, even the consulates, are not reaching them." |
BILOXI, Miss., Sept. 5 - Like so many other people here, Pedro, a landscaper from Chiapas, Mexico, is desperately trying to get out of Biloxi. He wants to take his wife, Anna, who is eight months pregnant, someplace cleaner and safer, wherever that might be. But aside from being low on gas like everyone else, Pedro, who would not give his last name because he is undocumented, is nervous about traveling in a city swarming with police officers and National Guard troops. |
WASHINGTON – Sept. 13, 2005 - President Bush for the first time took responsibility Tuesday for federal government mistakes in dealing with Hurricane Katrina and suggested the calamity raised broader questions about the government's ability to handle both natural disasters and terror attacks. "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government," Bush said at a joint White House news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. |
Whether they like it or not, Govs. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) of Louisiana and Haley Barbour (R) of Mississippi -- like governors who have weathered earlier crises -- are destined to be linked forever to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. While it is too soon to appraise the storm's political aftermath, the two first-term governors will be judged by the impressions of their leadership during the crisis. A look at history shows that unexpected challenges can make or break a governor's legacy. |
Los Angeles Unified's most-experienced teachers work predominantly in schools serving high-income white students, at the expense of Latino and African-American students living in poorer neighborhoods, a report released Wednesday says. The Education Trust-West report says the annual salaries of teachers in high-poverty areas of Los Angeles average $1,589 less in elementary schools and $1,826 less in middle schools than salaries at campuses in more-affluent areas. Similar salary gaps were found in the nine other large school districts in the state, the report authors wrote. |
Workers increasingly find themselves priced out of health insurance with nearly double-digit annual hikes in costs eating up much of their wage gains even as employers pull back on coverage, according to a study released Wednesday. Only 60 percent of companies now offer health coverage to their employees, according to the annual study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, down from 69 percent five years ago. As a result, 7 million fewer people get their insurance through their jobs. |
JOSEFA ORTIZ DE DOMÍNGUEZ, Mexico - If it were up to Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, this tiny village, known more commonly as Las Chepas, would be bulldozed to the ground. In the last three years, authorities on both sides said, this parched stretch of the United States-Mexico border - where summer temperatures soar to 110 degrees and, until recently, Border Patrol agents have been relatively scarce - has become one of the busiest gateways for illegal migration to the United States. Detentions of migrants here have jumped to more than 41,000 this year, from 23,000 all of last year.
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SAN DIEGO – Sept. 14, 2005 - The Bush administration said Wednesday it will fortify the westernmost stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, despite concerns the project will harm a refuge for endangered birds Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff signed an environmental waiver that expedites the Border Patrol's plans to fill in canyons and erect additional fencing along the final 3 1/2 miles of the border before it meets the Pacific Ocean. Chertoff said the fortifications would help reduce illegal border crossings. But Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar told reporters the project was a broader effort to close gaps that terrorists and others could exploit. |
Since June, the United Farm Workers have urged
consumers to boycott Gallo wine. Today, the union plans to use a Gallo
vintage to toast the signing of a new labor agreement with California's
largest winery. |
New York Latino Electorate Continues to Play Crucial Role in City’s Political Landscape New York City, New York - According to the
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)
Educational Fund, the leading organization that empowers Latinos to
participate fully in the American political process, Latinos made up one of
every five voters who showed up at the polls in yesterday’s election,
strengthening their long-term impact on New York City politics. |
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China Lobby Efforts Intensify,
Report Shows
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Last November Chinese President Hu Jintao swept through
South American capitals with a "golden pen" that he used to sign agreements
along the way with Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela. |
MEXICO CITY — Sep 17, 2005 - U.S. policymakers striving
to curb the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are confronting a
dilemma: Like a prizefighter, he seems to get stronger with every sparring
session. |
WASHINGTON — Sep. 14, 2005 - Mexico thought it was
promoting tourism and business when it agreed five years ago to allow
Brazilians into the country without visas. Instead, the move provoked a wave
of illegal immigration into the United States by Brazilians who used Mexico
as a springboard. |
A proper understanding of the causes of international migration suggests that punitive immigration and border policies tend to backfire, and this is precisely what has happened in the case of the United States and Mexico. Rather than raising the odds that undocumented immigrants will be apprehended, U.S. border-enforcement policies have reduced the apprehension rate to historical lows and in the process helped transform Mexican immigration from a regional to a national phenomenon. |
Tucson, AZ – September 16, 2005 - The black and white image of Michael Nicely, the Tucson Sector Border Patrol Chief, is framed by two phrases: “Where is the Chief?” and “Desaparecido”. The image dominates t-shirts, four feet high signs and small placards carried by community members from Tucson, Nogales and Douglas. Equipped with hard hats and knowledge of their constitutional rights, the group’s “search party” is tasked with exposing one year’s worth of frustration and unmet requests for meetings with the agency Chief. |
Brandishing signs with slogans reading "Deport Illegal Aliens" and "No Border, No Order, No Nation," about 30 demonstrators yesterday took to a Farmingville corner known as a hiring depot for day laborers to demand enforcement of immigration laws. The group was led by the controversial Arizona-based Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which held an event later in the day in Babylon seeking volunteers to patrol U.S. borders. |
Mexico approves 105 year sentences for murder; opens door to more extraditions. MEXICO CITY – Sept. 6. 2005 - Mexico's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a state law allowing near lifetime imprisonment for some murders, raising the possibility of more extraditions to the United States. The court backed a Chihuahua state law that allows consecutive prison terms for murders involving children, women or kidnap victims, even if the total surpasses 100 years. Laws in most Mexican states limit total prison terms to 40 or 50 years. |
JEREZ, Mexico Sep 14, 2005 — Andres Bermudez, a migrant who went from field hand to millionaire to mayor of this impoverished village, had grand plans to create jobs and improve his hometown. But now he's had enough of Mexican politics and can't wait to return to California. Bermudez, who completes one year in office Thursday, told The Associated Press he knew his job would be difficult. Still, he wasn't prepared to deal with the red tape and partisan mudslinging. |
MEXICO CITY — Of Mexico's many gifts to the world, such as avocados and tequila, few have the universal appeal of a piping cup of hot chocolate and its magical links to Mayan rituals and Aztec emperors. In Mexico, hot chocolate is used not just to celebrate holidays or accompany tamales on Sundays. It can be found almost anywhere one finds coffee or tea. There are even mobile chocolate (choh-coh-LAH-teh) vendors, who... |
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By Patrick Osio,
Jr./HispanicVista.com
By
Richard N. Baldwin T. /HispanicVista.com
By
Raoul Lowery Contreras/HispanicVista.com
By